Psycho Dice Theory

Chapter 3

"Hello?" Penny's voice was froggy, eyes still shut having been woken up, unpleasantly, by the shrill scream of her voice, lighting up and vibrating on her night stand.

"Hey, bestie." Amy's familiar voice said on the other line. "How did you sleep?"

"I wasn't finished yet." She mumbled in reply, glancing at her alarm clock, the time snapping her mind into overdrive, bolting up in bed and casting her eyes around the darkened room.

'5:30...shit!'

"I'm sorry to have woken you, but I have just gotten off the phone with Sheldon."

"Oh yeah?" Penny rushed, only half listening as she dashed around her room, yanking her closet doors open in one fatal swoop, starting to pick through her over populated clothes rack.

"He said he's going to Texas for the holidays." Her voice dropped, as if telling some sort of coveted secret.

"Yeah, didn't he ask you?" She replied, pulling out a handful of hangers, and throwing them onto her bed with a soft thump.

"No." She said simply. "He just now let me know."

Penny dropped her arms, the shirt she had been holding up against her, staring at her reflection in the mirror, falling lightly against her calf.

"I thought..." she trailed off, her eyebrows pulling together as she stared out her windows at the city lights that blinked slowly off and on.

"That's okay. We can have girls night." Amy concluded, a smile ringing in her voice. "I realized we haven't had one in a while."

"Oh..." Penny breathed, her stomach tightening as she realized that Sheldon hadn't even asked Amy.

'How could he do that!' She stormed in her mind, feeling the warm bubble of anger roll into her veins.

Did Sheldon have no common sense at all?!

How could he just totally disregard his own girlfriend like and not even seem to feel the slightest bit bad about it?!

"Penny?" Amy asked, drawing Penny out of her head. "Are you there, bestie?"

"Uh...yeah." she heard herself answer, pinching the bridge of her nose as she seriously debated whether or not to cancel on Sheldon. Both out of anger and that hope that, maybe, he would ask Amy to go. "I'm, uh...actually going out of town too. I'm sorry..."

"Oh..." her voice was devastated, dropping even further until it was almost non-existent. "Where are you going?"

She hated lying to her friend.

It almost felt like she was sneaking around with Sheldon behind Amy's back.

'As if.'

"To my dad's." She answered in an breezy tone, hoping to God it sounded like the truth. "It's his first Christmas sense the divorce."

'Oh great, Penny. Make the lie even MORE extravagant.'

"Well...I hope you have fun. Though, I have to admit, it will be oddly quiet without my two favorite people in town."

"Sorry..." she said again, wrinkling her nose, suddenly feeling very dirty and disgusting.

"No, no." Her friend replied, the happy tone in her voice forced and weak. "I understand."

Silence.

"Well...I should get going..." Penny said, her soft voice penetrating the silence that had settled around them. "My flights in a few hours..."

"Yes." Was all she said. "Of course."

Penny stared at the phone that was nestled in her hand for a moment after Amy's line clicked off, feeling worse and worse as thoughts of how wrong all this was flooded her mind.